Hello everybody! I'm sorry that I haven't been keeping up with the chapters lately. They are just getting harder and harder to write, but I'll get it all done eventually, you know I will. I always do.

The criminal man holding Mariku prisoner in the alley cocked a brow and spat at the very idea that his partner in crime mattered to him in the least. "Oh please. I don't give a damn whether you kill the little whelp or not. I have what I want." He licked his way up to Mariku's ear. The tomb keeper was frozen in fear. The thought of being raped again was one of his worst.

Bakura wasn't quite sure why Mariku wasn't fighting back for his life and why he had been stricken with such fear. He knew that Mariku had been raped at least once in his life, but he didn't know that it would have had this kind of effect on him like this.

Bakura shrugged and with just his thumb was able to snap the man's neck into two. He fell to a heap on the moist ground and was dead. The taller male's eyes widened in utter shock as he stared at his dead comrade. It was only a non-caring act he had put up, but Bakura had taken his words literally and killed the man since he apparently had no purpose to be on this earth.

"Wh---what the fuck is wrong with you?" The taller male exclaimed and his eyes jerked back to Bakura frantically. "There was no purpose to his existance and you obviously didn't care for him anyways. I think I did you a favor." Bakura said viciously with a glint of crazed murderer in his eyes.

"Y—you are fuckin' messed up!" The man screamed again and held the knife closer to Mariku's neck and his limbs began to tremble nervously. Mariku had finally grasped his composure and was able to think of something. Bakura's malicious ways had brought about a sudden strength in him that he had lost a long time ago after meeting and then leaving Bakura.

"Bakura," He called to the strong male who slowly turned his glance down to him. "I want you to run and take Ryou with you, get as far away as you can from me. I have an idea, but I don't want you to get dragged in as well." Mariku explained.

"If I leave then he will take you somewhere where I won't be able to find you! Use your damn head!" Bakura growled at Mariku. "I am using my head, and he won't be getting that far, trust me."

"I won't leave you…" He hissed and stood in an attacking stance. Mariku rolled his eyes at Bakura's stubborness and reached into his pocket, fished around for a moment, and found a quarter. He flipped the small piece of metal roughly at Bakura to get his attention better. "Will you just listen for once?"

Bakura backed down out of his fighting stance and glared at Mariku. "You had better not die, you hear me you ass hole!" Bakura hissed and took a step back away from the nervous criminal.

Mariku's hair spiked sharply and his eyes narrowed dangerously as a malicious smile graced his features. The Millenium Item returned to his forehead and burned more brightly than ever before. He looked up at Bakura and tilted his head to the side playfully. "You have ten seconds. Start running!" He laughed loudly and quite evily. It had been much longer than a year since he had summoned such magnificent power such as this.

Bakura backed out of the alley and ran as quick as his long, thin legs would carry him. Mariku grabbed the one man by the wrist and tightened his grip until the male released the knife in his hand. He went as far as to even break his wrist for him. He leaned back against the man's chest and narrowed his eyes at the men with a large sly grin still on his face.

"You're coming with me." The shadows seeped out of the cracks of the surrounding brick and consumed the entire alley way.

Bakura had managed to get to his hikari just in time and had gained more distance between himself and the powerful shadow that had chased him only so far. He was surprised to see such strong shadow coming from Mariku, it was amazing how much power he had.

Mariku and his guest to the Shadow Realm were enveloped by such darkness and the keeper dragged the screaming man into the realm of shadows and demons. The man finally stopped screaming when he felt himself fall onto a hard, cold surface.

He opened one eye and glanced around and his eyes widened when he came face to face with a skeleton that was hung from a tree. He backed away quickly up against something that was cold and strong. He glanced behind himself and saw the letters R-I-P carved into the stone. He shrieked and covered his head in an attempt to snap out of what he thought was merely a dream.

He heard the sound of creepy laughter coming from just above and glanced back upwards towards the noise. Perched atop the grave marker was the keeper and he looked as disturbed as he ever had looked. His outfit had changed into that of black leather with spikes to adorn the leather and bands of black with studs on them. He had a skull pendant hanging from around his neck that was most frightening, but to further the man's heart attack there was a scythe in his right hand.

"I'm going to torture you and tear your body into little pieces one by one! HA HA HA HA!" Mariku said with a maddened look upon his features that scared the poor man the most. He had never seen such a demonic man in his life.

He held the scythe to the man's bare throat. "How does it feel to be held under a blade?" He laughed maniacally again and slashed his throat lightly just to draw some blood and further the heart attack the man seemed to be having.

He snapped his fingers and chains came jetting out of the pitch black and wrapped themselves around the man's arm. There were skeletons attached to the chains. The bony arms lifted themselves up around his arms and gripped them tightly. The frightened man screamed bloody murder. This was only the beginning of what Mariku was going to do to this man.

Meanwhile, Bakura had gotten his pained hikari to his home where he would be safe for the time being. He helped him into a bath and carefully cleaned him up. There was minor bruising and some cuts, but it was nothing too terrible. As he sat there with Ryou all he could think about was Mariku. He had seen that look in his eye and knew that he would be all right on his own, but he couldn't help but think that there was more trouble to be had.

In the Shadow Realm time supposedly stops, since this was the case, Mariku had been there for at least two hours torturing his victim. To the man it had felt like he had been tortured for eternity, Mariku however, didn't really care how long he had been in there. This was the first time he had ever had such fun with anyone other than the pharaoh or even Bakura.

He licked at his fangs and laughed in the man's face. "How does it feel to be at someone else's mercy? This is similar to what you did to me!" He recalled, even though it wasn't this same man, but another that he had experienced this torture by.

He looked down at the frightened creature and yawned. "This is getting so boring…all he does is lay there and scream to no end…" Mariku thought to himself. He turned his back on the man and looked around the realm. The man whispered a quiet curse at the keeper, who in turn spun around on his heel and sliced the man's head off in one clean swipe. He smirked and held the scythe over his shoulder and walked off.

He glanced around the realm and sighed with his head hung and his chin was to his chest. "I can't remember where I came in…" He whimpered and sat down against another nearby tomb marker. He leaned back against the cold cement. "Why must this realm be so big?" He complained.

Another thirty minutes passed and Mariku had just been wandering around aimlessly looking for a door, but he had not yet had any luck with his search and was on the verge of giving up and enjoying eternity in this world.

He leaned back against a tree and looked around. "Well, I guess this place wouldn't be terrible. It is quiet, it isn't crawling with humans, and the neighborhood seems fairly okay." He listed trying to look at the bright side of darkness.

Well, I think I'll drop off there for the day. I've been sitting at this computer for god knows how long trying to write a chapter for you people and quite frankly I'm exhausted. Later!